You’ve decided to switch providers and have checked with your “winning” carrier and learned that your number is in fact portable (in other words, you can reassign your existing fixed-line or mobile number to your new provider). You’ve done all the pre-port preparation—all information is gathered and forms are filled out—and you’re ready to get started.

Whether you’re the provider handing over its customer or the “winning” provider gaining new business, number porting—the process of preserving a customer’s number when switching providers—is essential for ensuring business continuity and customer satisfaction.

This can be a tricky process and, if done wrong, can have severe financial consequences. As we recently covered on our blog, processes like number porting, in which a customer’s fixed or mobile number is reassigned to a new provider, can make the difference between securing a strong bottom line and reaching the end of the line.

For end-users, transitioning a phone number between providers can be stressful or inconvenient at most. For telecom resellers, however, it can make the difference between securing a strong bottom line and reaching the end of the line. For resellers, striking a balance between efficiency and cost-effectiveness is key for ensuring long-term profitability. Processes like number porting, in which a customer’s fixed or mobile number is reassigned to a new provider, can have a dramatic effect on finances if handled incorrectly.

There are some things in life that prove old-school is cool. You can’t go wrong, for example, with a classic arcade game (Space Shooter, anyone?). On the other hand, however, there are things that are meant to adapt to and enhance with the times. Number porting—the process of reassigning a customer’s fixed or mobile number to a new carrier—is one of those things.

Number porting—the process of reassigning a customer’s fixed or mobile number—remains a fundamental offering among service providers today. After all, we live in an age where customers are quicker than ever to switch carriers due to a number of reasons, from cost to network quality to the specifics of service packages. Customers have every right to switch providers without fear of losing their phone number; however, porting continues to be unnecessarily challenging in many ways (just consider this open letter written in 2012 by a Frontier employee).

Much like with anything in life, if you fail to plan, more than likely you are planning to fail. When it comes to something small like forgetting to plan ahead for lunch, no big deal; head to your office cafeteria. But when the task is larger in scale, such as porting the numbers for your entire business, you will absolutely want to be prepared for the process. Omitting the smallest detail can leave you in quite a time-monopolizing, money-dwindling bind. Save yourself the trouble; before you fall into any number porting pitfalls, read through these ten failures so you don’t become one.